


In Bloom

by sunalso



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/F, Romantic Soulmates, Season/Series 02, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:27:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23184760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunalso/pseuds/sunalso
Summary: AU S2. Skye is stuck in quarantine after terragenesis, unsure of what's different about her besides the new soulmark on her arm. May comes to check on her, and they both find more in each other than they'd been expecting.Beta'd by Gort
Relationships: Melinda May/Skye | Daisy Johnson
Comments: 16
Kudos: 134





	In Bloom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [26stars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/26stars/gifts).



> _A May/Daisy soulmate fic for the lovely @Loved-the-stars-too-fondly for the Roaring Twenties Rare Pair Exchange!_

Skye had changed.

The woman who’d been proud of her hacking skills, with her only slightly misguided fight for justice, had died, leaving behind whoever she’d become now.

Whatever she’d become.

She didn’t know yet what that might be, just that she was different.

Quarantine had become boring long ago. She had nothing to do but worry or watch reruns on TV. Reading had proved impossible. The words swam on the page, nothing made sense anymore.

Skye held up her hands while doing her best to ignore the constant buzzing in her chest. It never went away.

Also not going away was the tattoo around her left wrist. She circled the fingers of her other hand around her arm, obscuring the tightly furled flower buds on brown branches that decorated her skin. Skye hadn’t been born with a soulmate. Not until she’d touched…until…

She sniffed back tears. It seemed more proof that she was no longer the same person. She’d become someone with a soulmate. At any given time, roughly forty percent of the world’s population carried a soulmark. Finding your other half was supposed to be an epiphany, choirs of angels singing and all that. Jemma had described it more like coming home and curling up in bed after a long day. At last part of you could rest. Fitz had made heart eyes at her as she’d been talking, and the capuchin monkey that was her soulmark for Fitz had scampered up and down her arm, playing with the otter on Fitz’s arm that was his mark for her.

When soulmates were together, their marks became animated. Alive. If Skye ever found her partner, her flowers would bloom, and shift to grow down her fingers towards the person meant for her. It’d be beautiful.

But that person would be meant for the new Skye, not the one who’d been tossed from foster family to foster family.

Skye dropped her hands to her sides.

She didn’t even know what time of the day it was. Clocks didn’t have a lot of meaning in the windowless white room. Turning around she scrounged around for the tablet she’d been playing an inane game on earlier. 5:14 in the morning. How much fun. Had she slept? Or was this buzzing the nightmare. She put her elbow over her eyes and groaned.

A sharp knock on the plexiglass window of her quarantine intruded into her solitude.

“Go away,” she called. “It’s too early.”

She didn’t need Fitz’s sympathy right now, not when he’d be bleary-eyed and sleep rumpled after curling up with his soulmate all night. And if he brought her one more documentary on monkeys to watch, she was going to scream. Which wasn’t kind of her, he was being a good friend, but she’d still had about all the pity she could take.

Another rap, short and sharp. “Skye, it’s May. Get up.”

Skye launched herself to her feet. She hadn’t seen May in days. Melinda May looked as calm and as amazing as always, and Skye’s mouth went dry. The crush that she’s formed as soon as she’d met May refused to go away. Not that May paid her much attention, she had a soulmark that’d never been kindled, and Skye thought that May—after her divorce—didn’t want to bother much with anyone that wasn’t her soulmate.

Skye could respect that.

The room with its overly clean scent of disinfectant and obnoxious beeps of the monitors attached to her, closed in around Skye as May stood on the other side of the glass, so very far away.

Skye inhaled deeply, trying not to fall apart. The ground beneath her feet became unsteady, it shook, and she found herself on her hand and knees, gasping for breath.

The door whooshed open and May rushed in. “Skye?” she asked. May dropped to her knees beside her.

Skye held out a hand. “I’m okay. You shouldn’t have come in here.”

May waved a hand. “You shouldn’t be in here, I think Coulson is mostly worried about keeping you safe, no keeping other people safe from you. That’s a big difference. Now on your feet.” She stood and Skye scrambled up after her. May wore her work out clothes, a loose tank-top and yoga pants. Her dark hair hung around her shoulders, and Sky wished she could fall into May’s arms and be held.

Skye swallowed hard and shook out her arms. “What are you here for?”

“No more lying around,” May said. “We’re doing Tai Chi this morning.”

“What?”

“Don’t give me that look.”

Skye managed to unwrinkled her nose as May pushed a few things out of the way to clear space in the middle of the floor. She stretched and fell into a familiar pose. It was the starting pose for one of the easier morning routines, and Skye consoled herself that at least May wasn’t being demanding.

Together they moved through the routine. May occasionally reminding Skye to keep her elbows up or to breathe deeper. The movement felt good, and the buzzing inside her lessened as if the motions soothed it.

“Your arm—” May started, then broke off. She broke form to correct Skye’s posture, standing close behind her in a way that made Skye want to melt back against her, not stand straighter. May’s scent of soft-flowers—she obviously did not use the SHIELD standard-issue shampoo—wrapped around Skye. Slowly, May traced her fingers down Skye’s arm, going from the sleeve of her shirt to the bare skin of her forearm. The touch was electric.

Heat raced through Skye, making her gasp. May made a startled noise as well, and she leaned against Skye’s back. 

“Your arm,” May whispered, her voice hoarse.

Skye looked to where she was skin to skin with May. The flowers on her wrist were blooming. The buds burst into glorious pink and purple-hued flowers and the branched waved in a breeze that seemed to be blowing towards May’s arm.

May’s soulmark, tightly furled buds on grassy stems, were bobbing towards Skye as the burst into bloom. Perfect white and gold daisies with twining stems that grew new heads as she watched.

“Magnolia flowers,” Mays murmured. “You didn’t have this before.”

“After—” Skye croaked, she turned around and May hugged her tightly. It wasn’t like finding home, and Skye didn’t feel like a bolt of lightning had struck her. She felt alive as if she’d just woken up. As if she’d blossomed along with the flowers on her skin.

“I’ve waited so long for you,” May said, her hand cradling the back of Skye’s head.

“Not me,” Skye choked out, her heart crashing to the floor. “Whoever I am now. Skye died and I don’t know who I am.”

May pushed her upright. “That’s crap and you know it. You were a bud, like the ones on my wrist, and now you’re flowering. Everyone will be able to see how beautiful and strong you are.” May hugged her again. “Or else.”

Skye laughed, the sound watery. Damn it, she was crying. “I appreciate it, but I really didn’t have a soulmark before.”

“It was waiting for whatever happened in Puerto Rico. You’re still you, but I think now you’ll find out who you really have been all along. And I think that woman will be astonishing.”

Skye tilted her face up, pressing it to May’s neck. “You’re astonishing. You’re gorgeous, can kick anyone’s ass, and fly a plane like…wow.”

May cupped her cheek. “You’re very articulate.” She licked her lips and Skye’s heart did a somersault. “You’re wow too, you’ve gone through so much in your life, but here you are, still alive. Still ready to fight.” May’s mouth compressed into a line. “But you can’t be reckless. You’ll give me a heart attack.”

Skye rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I can be as reckless as I want, like this.” She pressed her lips to May’s, who moaned softly and pulled Skye hard against her.

“Like this is okay,” May mumbled against her lips, and Skye’s heart overflowed with an emotion she didn’t dare name. Not yet. Not when her soulmark was newly kindled. On her arm she could feel the branches of the magnolia tree, heavy with blossoms, swaying towards May.

In time, all that love in her heart would bloom into something gorgeous.

**Author's Note:**

> Post on tumblr after I get home from work tonight!


End file.
